Feb 28, 2011
Posted by Mike in New Media,Video Production
0 Comments
Write the Script; Then Toss It
I’ve often pontificated about the importance of the script in the video production process on this blog; today I’m contradicting myself, sort of…
While I still think that scriptwriting is paramount to the corporate and training video production process, sometimes a script just gets in the way of getting good video in the camera. Case and point: The inevitable CEO talking head. I’ve done a lot of training and corporate profile videos, and in almost all of them, the CEO/President/Head Honcho makes an appearance, to tout the company’s commitment to whatever the subject of the video is. That’s all well and good, but almost without fail, it’s the low point of the entire video. Stunted speech, monotone delivery, darting eyes as they read the script the marketing director wrote off of cue cards; very often dragging the message of the video into the abyss of “who cares.”
A quick search for “a message from the CEO” on YouTube will provide you with hours of viewing monotony. To be fair, there are actually a number of good talking head CEO’s mixed in with the not-so-good, but overall: a snoozefest.
I don’t blame the CEO, they spend their days doing what CEOs do; throwing them in front of a camera crew, and putting words that someone else has written in their mouths is not easy. Actors act, it’s a craft. CEOs don’t. In contrast, take a look at this legendary clip by actor turned Studio Executive Robert Evans. This clip, played at a Gulf & Western board of directors meeting, saved Paramount Pictures from the ax in the early 1970′s:
So How Do You Fix This
There are any number of techniques a good camera operator or a good video editor can use for fixing this sort of thing, but the best way to fix it is to avoid the problem in the first place. Here are a few ideas:
- Write the script, then toss it – While I have all of the respect I could possibly muster for professional scriptwriters, choppy delivery of eloquent prose kills the message. Write an outline of the key points, heck write the full script of what you want the boss to say, just don’t expect or demand a word-for-word delivery.
- Get them out from behind the desk – One of the most powerful aspects to the Robert Evans film above, is that he is not sitting behind a desk. He’s moving around naturally, and speaking from the heart. Sure he’s reading from a script, but how you say something is often as important as what you say in these days of instant communications.
- Do it as an interview – OK, so the CEO can’t walk and talk at the same time (it’s actually not that easy to do, really). Shoot the scene as an interview, with camera framing just the CEO and the interviewer off camera. Let the camera operator take care of “finding their eyes” while the CEO interviewee concentrates on getting the message across.” I’ve often found that a few minutes of conversation between the interviewer and the CEO on set goes a long way to calming “stunted response syndrome” as well.
- Don’t put the CEO in the Video – I seem to be picking on CEOs, but this goes for anyone who “has to” be in the video: Are they really the best person to deliver the message? Maybe it’s because the higher level the person is, the more they have to lose, but I’ve often found that in-the-trenches kinds of workers are better at performing in front of the camera than managers, VPs and CEOs. Ask yourself, “is the CEO really the best person to deliver this, or would a client, shift worker, or janitor be better at getting the message across?”
- Don’t go overboard with it – There is a danger taking all of this too far as well. Putting your CEO in a company t-shirt, and sitting them down on a retaining wall outside the office may seem like a good idea, but if it’s not the kind of thing they would do normally, it will just make them feel more uncomfortable when the cameras show up. If they aren’t licensed forklift operators, don’t, I repeat DON’T put them behind the wheel; it just won’t end well.
So what are your tips for better corporate video production? Leave me a note below!
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